Event details

A US military transport helicopter made an emergency landing and burst into flames near a training area in Okinawa Prefecture, southernmost Japan, Wednesday afternoon. None of the seven crew members or residents were injured, according to the local fire department and others. The crash occurred at a pasture outside the US military's Camp Gonsalves training area in the village of Higashi around 5:15 p.m. (8:15 a.m. GMT), according to the Defense Ministry and others. The US Marine Corps in Okinawa said a CH-53E helicopter made an emergency landing after catching fire and that the cause of the accident was under investigation. The helicopter had been deployed at the Marine Corps' Futenma air station in the Okinawa city of Ginowan.